Goldstein Report

Tag: Telnic

  • ICANN: Proposed Renewal of .TEL Registry Agreement

    ICANN: Proposed Renewal of .TEL Registry Agreement

    ICANN logoBrief Overview

    Purpose: ICANN is posting for public comment the proposed agreement for renewal of the 2006 Registry Agreement for .TEL. This proposal is a result of bilateral negotiations between ICANN and Telnic Limited.

    Current Status: As per Article 4.2 of the .TEL Registry Agreement, .TEL Registry Agreement shall be renewed upon the expiration of the initial term set forth in Article 4.1 of the agreement. Currently, the .TEL Registry Agreement will expire on 1 March 2017.

    Next Steps: After the public comment period has concluded, the proposed agreement will be considered for execution, in light of the summary and analysis of the comments.

    Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose

    ICANN is posting for public comment the proposed agreement for renewal of the 2006 Registry Agreement for .TEL which is set to expire on 1 March 2017. The renewal proposal is a result of discussions between ICANN and Telnic Limited (the Registry Operator for the .TEL TLD).

    As discussed and agreed to by ICANN and Telnic Limited, the renewal agreement is based on the approved new gTLD Registry Agreement as updated on 9 January 2014. However, in order to account for the specific nature of the .TEL TLD, relevant provisions in the 30 May 2006 Sponsored TLD Registry Agreement have been carried over to this renewal agreement.

    As a result, the proposed renewal agreement for .TEL is similar to the terms of a Registry Agreement for a new gTLD, except for the following provisions:

    • Protection of Legal Rights of Third Parties (section 2.8 and Specification 7): processes and procedures for the launch of the TLD and initial registrations will not apply as the .TEL TLD has been in operation since 2005.
    • Continued Operation Instrument (section 2.12 and Specification 8): this requirement will not apply to the .TEL TLD which has been and remained in continuous operations for at least 6 years prior to the anticipated effective date of the renewal agreement. As a result, provisions in section 4.3 (b) and (c) (Termination by ICANN) is not applicable to the .TEL TLD either.
    • Pass Through Fees related to the Trademark Clearinghouse (section 6.4): consistently with the above provision on the protection of legal rights, .TEL will not be subject to the payment of the Trademark Clearinghouse related fees.
    • Approved Services (Exhibit A): In addition to the common descriptions of the DNS, Anti-Abuse Services, and Whois Contact Lookup, the Approved services for .TEL includes a 270-day implementation grace period to allow sufficient time for Telnic Limited to complete the transition of its technical operations to meet all the requirement of the proposed renewal agreement. The Approved Services for .TEL includes “Bulk Transfer After Partial Portfolio Acquisition (BTAPPA)” which was incorporated to the .TEL Registry Agreement on 25 February 2016 as Amendment No.5 and also (i) Registry Controlled DNS Records Service (ii) Domain data change notifications, (iii) Whois private contact information opt-out for Individuals (iv) Special Access Service (v) Additional RDDS Data Fields. Additionally, Approved Services for .TEL includes Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs).
    • Schedule of Reserved Names (Specification 5): the proposed renewal registry agreement reflects the current provisions in Amendment 3 (dated 17 November 2010) regarding the changes in Appendix 6 (Schedule of Reserved Names) permitting the registry operator to allocate previously reserved one- and two-character names through ICANN-accredited registrars via a Phased Allocation Program. On the other hand, all single-character numerical labels are reserved at the second level.  Additionally, the provision on the Registry Operator’s use of up to 100 names for the operation and promotion of the TLD (Section 3.2) and the provisions on activation of names relating to International Olympic Committee; International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Section 3.5) and names relating to Intergovernmental Organizations Section 3.6) are not included in the proposed renewal registry agreement.
    • Registry Interoperability and Continuity (section 2.7 and Specification 6): Section 6 of Specification 6 (Name Collision Occurrence Management) will not apply to .TEL TLD since it has been in operation since 2006.
    • Minimum Requirements for Rights Protection Mechanisms (Specification 7): the .TEL TLD will neither be subject to RPMs set forth in the Trademark Clearinghouse and nor to the Registry Restrictions Dispute Resolution Procedure (RRDRP) which was designed specifically for community TLDs under the New gTLD program.
    • Public Interest Commitments (Specification 11): The existing Registration Restrictions in Appendix S of the .TEL Agreement are proposed to be removed and replaced with the set of standard public interest commitments applicable to all new gTLDs with the exception of removal of the provision that requires RO to comply with any public commitments set forth in RO’s application.
    • Community Registration Policies (Specification 12): As part of the adaptation needed to carry over the Sponsored TLD Policies of .TEL to the proposed renewal agreement, Specification 12 incorporates the language of the original Appendix S (applicable under the current .TEL TLD Agreement) with the following modifications:
      • Part IV of Appendix S (“Start-Up Plan”) was not included in the proposed renewal agreement as it is no longer relevant.
      • Part VI of Appendix S (“Public Whois Specification”) was not included in Specification 12 because it is now incorporated to Approved Services (Exhibit A)
      • This section removes the requirement that the Registry control the name servers of delegated domain names, and the restriction that registrants cannot define the contents of the zone for their domain names; and
    • Misc. Provisions: Various other terms and conditions have been modified, at the request of the registry operator and after negotiation, to align with terms of the previous .TEL Sponsored TLD Agreement or to clarify rights previously afforded to .TEL.

    In connection with the renewal of the legacy .TEL registry agreement, the TLD is transitioning to the base gTLD registry agreement. At this time, ICANN and the Registry Operator have agreed to implement the incorporation of terms unique to a legacy TLD, such as .TEL, through an “Addendum” to the Registry Agreement. The Addendum will amend the terms of the .TEL registry agreement. Where the Addendum states that a provision will have “no force or effect”, it means that the identified provision will not be read as part of the .TEL registry agreement. The terms of the Addendum will not be affected by future global amendments under Section 7.6 or 7.7 of the existing new gTLD registry agreement, which will enable future global amendments to proceed while preserving the unique terms applicable to the legacy TLD.

    Posted for public comment are both clean and “redline” versions of the agreement, and the proposed Addendum to the Registry Agreement as follows:

    Contractual Compliance Review:  As part of the renewal process, ICANN conducted a review of contractual compliance under the .TEL Registry Agreement. Telnic Limited was found to be in substantial compliance with their contractual requirements.

    Section II: Background

    ICANN and Telnic Limited entered into a Sponsored TLD Registry Agreement on 30 May 2006 for operation of the .TEL top level domain. Based on this Registry Agreement, the effective date of the agreement is the delegation date of .TEL TLD, which is 2 March 2007. The current agreement for .TEL, which will expire on 1 March 2017, may be viewed at: https://www.icann.org/resources/unthemed-pages/tel-2012-02-25-en.

    Similarly, in 2015, registry agreements of several “legacy” gTLDs , namely .JOBS, .TRAVEL, .CAT and .PRO Registry Agreements, were renewed based on the new gTLD Registry Agreement as a result of bilateral negotiations between ICANN and the related Registry Operator. These renewed agreements can be viewed at: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/registries/registries-agreements-en.

    Section III: Relevant Resources

    Open Date: 4 Aug 2016 23:59 UTC

    Close Date: 13 Sep 2016 23:59 UTC

    Staff Report Due: 27 Sep 2016 23:59 UTC

    This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
    https://www.icann.org/public-comments/tel-renewal-2016-08-04-en

  • .TEL: The Simple Mobile Option?

    .TEL: The Simple Mobile Option?

    DotTel - Telnic - logoAs mobile devices are now ubiquitous in our daily lives, it might just be time for you to check out one of the last global Top Level Domains to launch prior to 2014’s new universe, .tel.

    Over the past few years as the unique, all-in-one solution has developed, .tel is making itself more and more useful for online businesses and individuals looking to have a mobile-optimised presence online without the hassle of having to build, host and maintain a traditional desktop-oriented website.

    Of course, it retains the benefits of a traditional domain name in that it’s indexed by search engines, can be integrated with analytic programmes such as Google Analytics and can be linked with email accounts so you can have name@yourname.tel.

    However, the service has evolved so that you can buy, build and manage your own mobile-ready website in minutes using just your thumb with .tel service provider Telnames and its Android and iPhone apps.

    The creation of a mobile-ready .tel website from Telnames takes minutes and gives all the information a business’s customers or friends need to know and allows contact details and links to Twitter feeds and Facebook and Pinterest pages. There’s a nice little video walk-through of the app here which shows just how easy it is to populate and publish.

    Whilst the .tel TLD was launched in December 2008 to trademark holders and general availability commenced in March 2009, initially most service providers used the centrally managed platform made available to them. In the past couple of years, as more organisations have seen the benefits that this type of service can deliver to less technically-able  business customers, new more tailored services have sprung up in countries like China, working with the likes of China UMS and China Telecom.

    Telnames is the Registry Operator’s subsidiary company, providing a service to small businesses. There’s an impressive range of customers on its Pinterest page and, we’re told, it’s increasing its global footprint through partnerships with organisations from South Africa through to Mexico and Latin America this year.

    Currently, each Telnames mobile website page can include:

    • your own unique web address (e.g. yourname.tel or yourbusiness.tel)
    • a short description including logo or profile picture
    • up to 20 pieces of contact information (including telephone numbers, email addresses, web links, and social media links)
    • a map and address location
    • an offer where you can describe your goods or services on promotion which, when updated, then automatically updates Apple’s Passbook if your customer has saved it
    • an image gallery containing up to ten photos (which has been recently refreshed to show bigger images)
    • a video
    • a full business profile
    • an additional information section
    • a design wizard to personalise the background image for desktops and tablets as well as change the colour of the icons
    • support for up to five PayPal items, services or donation requests at no additional charge to the customer

    The free Android and iPhone apps, which can be found at telnam.es/app, provide you with an in-app browser to show your progress as you add your information to your Telname, which is published in real time as you build it.

    Of course, as mentioned, there are a number of different services available, access to which can be found at telnic.org. All inclusive pricing for a Telname however is around £14.95 per year, inclusive of tax.

    As of October 2013, you can register your phone number, or any other numeric string from two to 63 characters long, as well as internationalised characters in sixteen different languages.

    As Google continues to increase its prioritisation of mobile-optimised sites in search and increases the importance of load speed, video integration and relevant content to mobile customers, the simplicity and affordability of .tel is coming into its own. However, as it can not only be viewed in the right format for any device – PC, tablet, or mobile – automatically, the appeal to businesses of all sizes for a low-cost, mobile-ready and limited e-commerce platform that .tel provides makes it a low-risk investment.

    According to RegistrarStats, .tel registrations are around the 200,000 mark globally.

  • ITU Concerned About .TEL Numeric Domains

    ITU Concerned About .TEL Numeric Domains

    The International Telecommunication Union has expressed concerns about Telnic’s proposal [pdf] to introduce numeric .tel domain names, saying they could cause confusion or conflicts.

    The ITU claims in a letter to ICANN the introduction of numeric .tel domains “raises a number of policy, legal, and practical implications on the potential usage of all-digit strings, not only under .TEL domain, but also under any future telephony-related new gTLDs, because of the possible perceived mapping of the ITU-T E.164 numbering plan into the Domain Name System (DNS), without appropriate procedures to ensure that rights of assignees of Recommendation ITU-T E.164 numbers are properly protected.”

    The ITU concerns include that registrants could register domains with numbers the same as a company’s phone number. There are also concerns around national-only numbers like short codes (e.g., 112) and international ITU-T E.164 numbers. Further, the ITU wants to know how the numeric domains will be used and how will unallocated and unused numbers be used.

  • Telnic announces all numeric long .TEL domain strings available from 15 October

    Telnic announces all numeric long .TEL domain strings available from 15 October

    Telnic Limited, the Registry Operator for the communications-focused .tel TLD, today announced that all numeric .tel domain strings of eight digits or longer will be made available in October.

    Registrants wishing to register strings such as 00442074676450.tel or 02074676450.tel will be able to do so through ICANN-accredited Registrars from 15:00 GMT on Tuesday 15 October.

    “Registrants now have an increased choice of registering a .tel name or a .tel number under which they can publish all types of contact information online,” said Khashayar Mahdavi, CEO of Telnic.

    “This means that if the customer knows either the business name or telephone number for a business, it can be reached online quickly in a mobile-friendly way.”

    Registrations will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Retail pricing is set by ICANN-accredited Registrars and their resellers, but it is anticipated to be broadly in line with existing .tel pricing.

    A list of cur>rent ICANN-accredited Registrars that offer .tel domain registrations can be found at http://telnic.org/get-started-buy.html.

    For more information about .tel and Telnic, please visit telnic.tel.

    This news release was sourced from:
    telnic.com/downloads/LongNumericsRelease.pdf

     

  • Short and Numeric-Only .TEL Domains Now Available

    Short (two-character) and numeric-only .TEL domain names became available on Monday last, the registry has announced.

    Following the premium-priced Landrush registration period, which commenced on Wednesday 1 June 2011 at 15:00 BST and lasted two weeks, General Availability will enable anyone to register any remaining short and numeric-only .TEL names at regular registration pricing.

    As with the previous Landrush period, the following strings remain unavailable for registration in this round:
    Short domains

    • all one-letter (from a.tel through to z.tel) domains
    • all two-character country code top level domains (ccTLDs, such as uk.tel for example)

    Numeric-only domains

    • all single-digit (from 0.tel through to 9.tel) domains
    • all combinations of digits and/or digit and hyphen strings that contain eight or more characters (for example, 12345678.tel or 123-5678.tel)

    All registrations will be on a first-come, first served basis. As with existing .tel domain name registrations, commercial pricing will be set by ICANN-accredited Registrars and their resellers. General Availability pricing is anticipated to be similar to existing .tel registration costs. Registrations can be from one to ten years.

    To register your .TEL domain name, check out Europe Registry here.

  • Telnic announces launch of two‐character and numeric‐only .TEL names

    Telnic announces launch of two‐character and numeric‐only .TEL names

    Telnic logo[news release] Telnic Limited, the Registry Operator for the .tel top level domain (TLD), today announced that the launch date for the upcoming release of short (two‐character) and numeric‐only .tel names would be 1st June 2011.

    The launch will consist of two phases:

    • Landrush ‐ A two‐week period commencing from Wednesday 1st June 2011 at 3 p.m. BST, which will enable any individual or business to secure a short or numeric‐only .tel name at a premium registration price.
    • General Availability ‐ From 3 p.m. BST on Tuesday 14th June 2011, at regular registration pricing.

    The following strings will not be available for registration in this round:

    Short domains

    • all one‐letter (from a.tel through to z.tel) domains
    • all two‐character country code top level domains (ccTLDs, such as uk.tel for example)

    Numeric‐only domains

    • all single‐digit (from 0.tel through to 9.tel) domains
    • all combinations of digits and/or digit and hyphen strings that contain eight or more characters (for example, 12345678.tel or 123‐5678.tel)

    All registrations will be on a first‐come, first served basis. As with existing .tel domain name registrations, commercial pricing will be set by ICANN‐accredited Registrars and their resellers.

    General Availability pricing is anticipated to be similar to existing .tel registration costs. Registrations can be from one to ten years.

    Further information regarding short and numeric‐only .tel names can be found at telnic.org/short‐numeric‐only.html.

    This Telnic news release was sourced from telnic.com/downloads/Telnic_Launch_Short_and_Numeric.pdf.

    Europe Registry logoTo register your .TEL domain name, check out Europe Registry here.

  • Measure to monetise your .TEL with Google Analytics

    Measure to monetise your .TEL with Google Analytics

    Telnic logo[news release] After adding Google. AdSense and enabling image-]based adverts for .tel domains, Telnic, the Registry Operator for .tel, today announced that all .tel owners can now integrate Google Analytics to measure and evaluate the performance of their .tel names.

    “.tel domains continue to index quickly in search engine results and show strong ranking performance,” commented Ian Bowen-Morris, Chief Marketing Officer at Telnic, “gNow, with integrated tracking by the leading analytics provider, .tel owners can see, down to the individual piece of contact information or advert, how people are interacting with their .tel names.”

    All .tel owners, whether they are running a local paid directory or businesses using different social media platforms to interact with their customers, can benefit from Google Analytics. A .tel owner can benefit from all of the existing standard measurement analytics as well as some custom report types that Telnic has set up. By measuring traffic and usage, .tel owners can better monetize and gain value from their .tel names.

    Google Analytics tracking can be activated simply from the .tel control panel provided by a .tel service provider. No coding is required, as .tel owners with Google Analytics account simply add the domain to track and cut and paste the required code into the .tel control panel tool.

    Over 300,000 .tel names are being used in over 180 countries worldwide today. For more information about how individuals and businesses are using .tel, please visit ILoveMyTel.com or telnic.org.

    This Telnic news release was sourced from:
    telnic.com/downloads/Google_Analytics_Tel.pdf

  • Short And Numeric Only .TEL Domains Coming Soon

    Short and numeric only .TEL domain names will soon be available for registration following their approval by ICANN at a January board meeting, the registry announced on 28 January.

    Dates of release and more information will be available in the coming months.

    For more information see the Telnic news release below:

    ICANN approves short and numeric-only .tel domain names
    Telnic Limited (http://telnic.tel), the registry operator for the .tel top level domain (TLD), today announced that, following the ICANN board meeting conducted in January 2011, ICANN has now approved the release of both short (such as jj.tel) and numeric-only (such as 442074676450.tel or 88.tel) .tel domain names for registration.

    “I would like to thank the ICANN Board and Staff for considering our recent applications and enabling more choice for businesses and individuals when seeking to register their .tel domains,” said Khashayar Mahdavi, CEO of Telnic. “In the near future, organizations with numeric-only trademarks or with two-letter brands will be able to register their .tel names and individuals will be able to get unique or lucky numbers as a fun online identifier.”

    Details of how to register short and numeric-only .tel names will be made available in due course. One-character ASCII (such as x.tel), single-digit (such as 3.tel) and names that may be confused with country code top level domains extensions (known as ccTLDs, such as .us or .uk) will not be available for registration.

    Over 300,000 .tel names have been registered to date in over 180 countries. For more information on .tel names and Telnic, please visit http://telnic.org or find contact information at http://telnic.tel.

    To register your .TEL domain name, check out Europe Registry here.

  • ICANN Public Comment: Allow the Allocation of Numeric-Only (Excluding Single-Digit) Domains in .TEL

    ICANN logoTelnic logoICANN is today opening a public comment period on a proposed amendment from Telnic Ltd. to Appendices 6 and S of the .TEL Registry Agreement.

    On 8 October 2010, ICANN posted for public information a request (proposal #2010012) submitted by Telnic through the Registry Services Evaluation Process (RSEP) to allow the allocation of numeric-only domains in .TEL, with the exception of single-digit names. The Telnic proposal is available at icann.org/en/registries/rsep/#2010012.

    As provided for by existing consensus policy, ICANN has undertaken a preliminary determination on whether the proposal might raise significant competition, security or stability issues. ICANN’s determination [PDF, 53 KB] is that the proposal does not raise such issues in .TEL.

    Implementation of the proposal would require an amendment to Appendices 6 and S of the .TEL Registry Agreement. A copy of the proposed amendment is available here: icann.org/en/tlds/agreements/tel/proposed-tel-amendment-14oct10-en.pdf [PDF, 60 KB].

    Additionally, there is a pending .TEL RSEP request for the allocation of one and two-character ASCII names; the announcement for the public comment forum on its amendment is viewable at icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-11oct10-en.htm. In light of the timing of the two RSEP requests and their respective amendments, ICANN has prepared a third amendment that reflects how Appendices 6, 7 and S would change if both RSEP requests are approved at the same time. This third amendment is viewable here: icann.org/en/tlds/agreements/tel/proposed-tel-amendment-2-14oct10-en.pdf [PDF, 65 KB].

    Comments on the proposed amendment submitted to tel-numeric-only-domains@icann.org will be considered until 13 Nov 2010 23:59 UTC. Comments may be viewed at forum.icann.org/lists/tel-numeric-only-domains/.

    This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
    icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-14oct10-en.htm

  • ICANN: Public Comment: One and Two-Character ASCII .TEL Domain Names

    ICANN: Public Comment: One and Two-Character ASCII .TEL Domain Names

    Telnic logoICANN logoICANN is today opening a public comment period on a proposed amendment from Telnic Ltd. to Appendices 6 and 7 of the .TEL Registry Agreement.

    On 11 August 2010, ICANN posted for public information a request (proposal #201008) submitted by Telnic through the Registry Services Evaluation Process to allow one and two-character ASCII .TEL domain names. The Telnic proposal is available at icann.org/en/registries/rsep/#201008.

    As provided for by existing consensus policy, ICANN has undertaken a preliminary determination on whether the proposal might raise significant competition, security or stability issues. ICANN’s determination [PDF, 53 KB] is that the proposal does not raise such issues in .TEL.

    Implementation of the proposal would require an amendment to Appendices 6 and 7 of the .TEL Registry Agreement. A copy of the proposed amendment is available here: icann.org/en/tlds/agreements/tel/proposed-tel-amendment-11oct10-en.pdf [PDF, 70 KB].

    Comments on the proposed amendment submitted to tel-one-and-two-char-domains@icann.org will be considered until 10 Nov 2010 23:59 UTC. Comments may be viewed at forum.icann.org/lists/tel-one-and-two-char-domains/.

    This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
    icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-11oct10-en.htm